Commentary: Kentucky was a key win for GOP

UPI ^ | 11/7/03 | Martin Sieff

[Nonstatist]

Wasn't UPI supposed to be the "conservative" alternative to AP? Man, what a disappointment.

[donozark]

Even UPI is ridiculing Bustamonte. "Short pasty faced Bustamonte." Ya gotta love it-just love it!

[reformedliberal]

Obviously, they are drinking the Kool-Aid when they complain the Dems haven't *stood up* to the POTUS and are *me-too* w/the Republicans.

[vbmoneyspender]

After Schwarzenegger cruised to victory in California, we concluded in UPI Analysis that for all the truly terrifying long-term economic indicators,

7% GDP growth is truly terrifying? I guess this is why I don't listen to pundits in the mainstream media anymore.

[Coop]

The president's support is looking dangerously soft in the polls.

That's just a downright dumb statement.

[TontoKowalski]

That was especially the case in the Kentucky campaign where Rep. Ernie Fletcher, a three-term GOP member of the U.S. House of Representatives, made his enthusiastic support for the Bush administration' economic policies a cornerstone of his campaign. He won in a romp by 55 percent to 48 percent.

I thought this was a fairly interesting article, until I got to this part. 55 + 48 = 103. It's indicative of a poorly written, poorly edited article.

[Bluegrass Federalist]

This was written by some Northeast liberal who has never even been to the Commonwealth, and did not follow the race. Chandler focused his campaign directly on challenging "the Fletcher-Bush Economy." There was no avoidance, he sought out confrontation with Bush. Bush came to Kentucky twice, and by a 10-point margin we capture the governorship for the first time in 30 years.

[Prolifeconservative]

We keep hearing Bush is vulnerable. The question I'd like to ask these so-called experts making such a claim is this:

TO WHOM is Bush vulnerable? Which candidate is he vulnerable to? Howard Dean?

Given alternatives pollsters might find G. W. not so vulnerable afterall.

[ken5050]

The first, and the last sentences in the article say it all...the bias of the reporter shines through....BTW..caught the rerun of Chandler's victory speech onn C-span..the entire room singing "My Old Kentucky Home"...was charming..way kewl...didn't see nary one mintjulip hoisted on camera, though..

[Qwinn]

I love how in order to say Bush is doing badly, they have to squeeze a rating of "fair" into the negative category.

Who here thinks the term "fair" applied to someone means disapproval?

Qwinn

[jmaroneps37]

48% in a zoombie poll means at least 55% in real life.

[bethelgrad]

you mean Fletcher's victory speech?

[southernnorthcarolina]

Now comes Kentucky, and if ever there were a true-believing Democratic stronghold, that heartland state of tough old mine workers should be it.

Oh, please. Could this stereotype possibly be more out of date and inaccurate? Instead of a "state of tough old mine workers," why not say a state of thoroughbreds and mint julips? If the writer has to resort to a cliché, why not make it a more picturesque one? It would be more accurate to refer to Kentucky as an automobile-manufacturing state (the largest selling wehicle in the U.S., Ford's F Series pickups, are made in Louisville; the largest selling automobile in the U.S., the Toyota Camry, is made in Georgetown); or as a tobacco growing state, or as a bourbon distilling state; or as an appliance manufacturing state. Coal mining, while still important, is certainly not the dominant industry.

Also, Kentucky is now a crucial swing state for the Democrats. In November 2000, it was one the four "sure-thing" heartland states -- the others were neighboring West Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee -- that should have gone for the Democrats, but didn't.

Nonsense, again. At the Presidential level, the Republican party candidate has fared better in Kentucky than in the nation as a whole in percentage terms the last five elections in a row. I'm sure the Gore campaign harbored hopes in the other three states mentioned -- his native Tennessee, Clinton's Arkansas, and Dem-leaning West Virginia -- but Kentucky was conceded to Bush early on. He carried the state 57-41. Kentucky isn't even close to being a "swing state" at the Presidential level. And a "sure-thing" state? Is the author off his meds?

That said, it is encouraging to see both Kentucky and Mississippi elect Republican governors in an off-year, with no Republican Presidential or Senatorial candidate atop the ballot. The South has, for several decades, been trending Republican at the Presidential level, and more recently, at the Senatorial level, where nominally Democratic voters can be convinced that the national Democratic Senate agenda is to be avoided. But it has been a tougher sell, generally speaking, at the gubernatorial level, where Democratic candidates have been able to plausibly suggest that they are independent from the national Democratic agenda.

With the notable exception of Louisiana (always different, just for the sake of being different), the GOP has had more success in the South with its Senatorial candidates than with its gubernatorial candidates. But the dam is finally breaking, and increasingly, folks down here are willing to register Republican and to think of themselves as Republicans, leading to down-ballot successes. It's been a frustratingly slow process, but the transition is at last well and truly underway. And that's what was so encouraging about the success of Fletcher and Barbour.

[ken5050]

yup...

[1Old Pro]

and their party goes on snapping up one delicious glittering prize after another.

We just love it, thanks to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton for hiring McAwful with the sole purpose of only helping the clintoons and not the party.

[stands2reason]

TO WHOM is Bush vulnerable?

Only this guy can beat him...

Mr. Unnamed Democrat!

[CFC__VRWC]

The GOP victory there, as in Haley Barbour's deposing of Mississippi incumbent Gov. Ronnie Musgrove that same night, was part of the slow, onward process, as slow but steady as the progress of a spilled jar of molasses across the tablecloth, ...

What's up with this ass clown, is he taking lessons from the Dan Rather Book of Stupid Folkisms?

that the GOP is moving to consolidate its now 35-year-old Southern strategy of appealing to the social and religious cultural conservatism of white Southern voters.

Northeastern liberal indeed. This is their "polite" way of saying, "Republicans played the race card by shamelessly pandering to toothless, Confederate-flag waving Southern male hayseeds."

[workerbee]

That's where I stopped reading. What a piece of dreck. Yeah, it's just that VRWC finally coming to fruition, doncha know.

[Bluegrass Federalist]

Fletcher was the GOP winner...The reason you saw no mint juleprs was because the place was so packed you couldn't get to the bar over an hour wait. If you wanted to see the speech, you were forced to sober up. We made up for it....